Protect What We Love
by HeatherJS
Summary: Love... It makes one do unexpected things... One decision, based solely on the matter of the heart... To risk it all to protect what you love... Or lose everything...


Protect What We Love

The battle was raging on in all of its full, bloody glory. The body count was rapidly mounting as the two armies thundered against each other. It was a battle that had been planned for weeks now and the executed plan was working out flawlessly. Xena's army was considerably more trained than the opposing one but they still fought valiantly against her forces on the battlefield. She had to give them some credit, they didn't immediately falter away once it seemed that the fight had all the chances to end badly for them, instead they held their ground and kept pushing against her men- an effort that she respected, fighting to die a warrior's death instead of just turning tail and running away once hope was lost completely for them. They knew that they were losing the battle but they still gave her men an incredible fight.

As the Warrior Princess fought the small wave of approaching soldiers, she cast a quick glance to her left to check on the progress of the one that was fighting a few feet away from her to see how he was holding his ground against the assault. He seemed to have a wicked gleam in his eyes as he fought off his assailants, brutally slashing his sword against the few who had the unfortunate luck to have tried to go up against him. Little did they know though, that they were never going to take him down, he was too good and their unmatched skills quickly had them meeting their deaths at the end of his blade. After a few seconds later, once each of them had sunk their swords into yet another warrior, their eyes had met for a brief moment across the small distance that separated them. It was a seemingly minor connection that didn't last very long that was made between the pair, one that anyone would not have thought much of if they had witnessed it themselves.

It was just a small discrete glance towards a fellow comrade, but there was an underlying burning desire shining in both of their eyes as the rush from the battle consumed them and the pure, raw lust that was transpired to the other told them both that once this was over then they were going to be spending the rest of the night fighting a much more intimate battle with each other. One that was going to be composed of who was going to be able to take control of the other and assert their dominance with each pleasurable joining of their bodies while they passionately made love until one of them surrendered to the other completely. Given their last encounter though, neither one was ever able to establish who had been the one to come out on top as they had both taken turns in giving immeasurable amounts of pleasure to the other before they had finally collapsed together after several hours, and not to mention numerous orgasms later of love making.

In a matter of seconds, the gap that still separated them disappeared and they were now fighting back to back. They moved gracefully with each other, knowing already what the others' move was going to be before they even made it. One would have thought that they were joined at the hip with the way that they were able to predict in which direction and what tactic the other was going to use. It was a marvelous display of trust between two warriors that seemed to have trained together their entire life and knew each other well enough not to have to worry about a slip up as they fought wave after wave of soldiers.

"Wouldn't you say the odds were a little unfair?" Xena asked as she quickly dispatched a warrior who tried to catch her off guard from her right.

"Now why would you say that my dear?" Ares replied as their backs once again connected with each other, swords held at the ready for the next threat.

"Well, for one you can't die….. I'd say that might be a little surprising for the man who manages to run you through with his sword and you don't start bleeding immediately." she teasingly retorted.

"That is a valid point and I can see where the scales might be tipped more one way in that assumption." the War God ruefully offered up, "But what disheartens me the most is the fact that in that tactful mind of yours, you firmly believe that one of these pathetic mortals is going to get the upper hand on me."

"If it weren't for me then you'd be dead already." she taunted, a salacious smile brightening up her features as she scorned him.

Before the War God could even think about voicing his reply, the next wave of eager to die warriors pounced on the duo. Each one attacked courageously but it wasn't long before they met the same fate as the others and soon their numbers started to slowly dwindle down. Ares and his Princess were soon down to the last few aggressors who had somehow managed to separate the twosome from each other a few feet. Xena slashed her blade at them viciously, cunningly keeping them on the defense and then when they least expected it, she dispatched each and every last one of them with a ferocious enthusiasm that never gave them a chance to even realize what it was that had just happened.

Having taken care of the last remaining threat, and before proceeding to move forward and finish conquering the rest of the battlefield, the Warrior Princess turned her attention back to Ares for a small moment. He was expertly managing four men on his own- though it seemed to her that he was only toying with them, only giving just halfhearted blocks with his sword. She guessed that he was trying not to make the fight seem too unfair and was attempting to give them an actual shot. But that tactic didn't last long though as it seemed that he quickly grew bored with it and he soon started to lethally attack them. She even got to see the shocked look that had come across the warriors' eyes, each one not having the slightest chance of defeating their deadly opponent.

Just when she was going to turn away, having seen enough and deciding that it was time to end this battle, Xena caught sight of one man who was cautiously making his way towards the War God from behind as he fought against three men that had rushed to join their friends on Charon's boat. One would have called it a reckless move, something that any inexperienced warrior would have been most likely to make in their first battle. But instinct had taken over the Warrior Princess at that moment, one based solely on protection even though she knew that the War God didn't need it. She quickly covered the distance that separated her from the new threat and, not taking notice of the small dagger that he held in his other hand, she engaged him.

She quickly blocked the coming blow of his sword- the one that was aimed towards Ares with her own and she held her sword tightly in both her hands as she pushed back on his blade. Unfortunately, with that uncalculated move, she had left herself open to the unseen attack that the warrior had planned all along to deliver to the War God and he thrust his dagger into her abdomen. Her eyes widened a little at the unexpected blow and she groaned out as he pulled it from her body, making the tip of the blade break off inside of her and she roughly shoved him away from herself.

At exactly the same moment, having sensed the attack coming from behind, Ares swiftly took care of the slight, but not at all that great entertainment he was having in front of him. He just as quickly turned around in time to watch Xena carelessly stepping in front of him to block the supposedly unknown coming assault. The moment the dagger entered her body though, it was as if the War God had taken that blow himself and his own hand- on impulse- went immediately to his abdomen from the feeling. The instant Xena shoved the man away from herself, she instinctively took a small step backwards and Ares' arm soon snaked around her waist protectively and he asserted himself into the fight and quickly disposed of the insignificant man with one deadly swipe with his blade.

A few other men had started to head in their direction, seeing the opportunity to take out the lethal pair since one of them was wounded and maybe tip the battle in their favor. But that thought didn't last long in their minds as one very long malicious glare and a feral, ferocious growl by the likes of which that they had never heard before quickly determined them to change their minds and they retreated from the pair. Xena's low moan of pain swiftly brought Ares' attention back to his Princess and he carefully lowered them both to the ground. Her breathing was already erratic and the blood was gushing out of her wound. What was she thinking, how could she have been that reckless? Seeing that the battle was definitely going in their favor, and thinking that it was not a wise idea for her soldiers to see her bleeding so heavily on the battlefield, Ares soon yelled out some last minute orders to her men and scooped his precious Princess up in to his arms and left with her, thus leaving her men to have to deal with what was left of that petty excuse of a fight.

Xxxxxxxx

They soon rematerialized in his bed chamber in his fortress in Macedonia, and Ares swiftly placed his bleeding Princess down on his bed. He urgently got rid of the armor and battle leathers that she was wearing so he could start to inspect her wound. It was about three inches wide and the blood was flowing steadily out of it. How could she have been so careless? Putting herself in danger like that for no apparent reason was a dumb move on her part. What was she hoping to gain for doing something like that, did she want to end her life? The War God soon proceeded to clean her wound from the small bits of dirt that managed to get into it as she fell down, every now and then shifting his eyes angrily up to her pain stricken face for her senseless move, scraping the dirt out just a bit more roughly then he should have when the thought of her tactless mistake ran through his mind, making the Warrior Princess wince out in pain a little more from his less than caring ministrations.

Even though he was rightfully mad at her, at the same time he was extremely panicked. He didn't like the amount of blood that she was losing and the fact that she could have done something that stupid confused him beyond words. He turned his focus back to her cut, inspecting it closely to make sure that he had it cleaned enough so that it wouldn't get infected. The last thing that he needed was for her to die on him because he was too angry with her for having gotten herself stabbed in the first place to properly clean that damned cut. The War God soon pressed his hand against it and tried to see if he could slow down the bleeding. The added pressure to her abdomen immediately made Xena groan out in pain, good, she needed to learn from this foolish mistake.

"What were you thinking?!" Ares bit out aggressively while he pressed against her stomach harder, "That was the dumbest thing I've ever seen you do!"

Xena didn't even bother to answer his question; she knew that what she did was an inexcusable mistake on her part. She couldn't believe that she had failed to notice the dagger before, but her mind had been filled with only one thing and she wasn't planning on sharing that information with the War God. He would only see it as a weakness and he would only scold her for having let her emotions control her actions in the heat of battle. She moaned out more in pain when it seemed that Ares just wanted her to feel just how much a stab wound really hurt when he added more pressure to it. She stared furiously at him, her blue eyes shining with hatred for his roughness and then she tried to remove his hands from her body and take care of her wound herself. At least she wouldn't be as rough with herself as he was being since he seemed to only want to finish the job that the soldier had started.

Her attempts to free herself from his rough treatment was quickly put out of her head. The harder she fought to try and move away from him the more she caused strain to her wound and in the end she only ended up making it bleed more and the pain grew more intense, the tip of the blade that was still in her, digging more into her tender flesh with each movement. Her breathing grew more labored and instinctively her hand went protectively to her abdomen but the War God quickly pushed her hand away to see what more damage she had caused to herself with her agitated moving.

"Would you just lie still!" he yelled at her, pushing her back down on the bed when she once again tried to get up, "You're only making it worse!"

Every fiber of her being was just screaming at her to rebel against him, to push him away once more and get out of his wretched bed and show him that she didn't need his help. Her heated sapphire eyes once again connected with his equally as angry auburn ones and although they were fuming with rage, she could also see the hint of despair that was in them. He was afraid and seeing that look in his eyes shocked the Warrior Princess. Never before had she seen Ares so fearful of something and her squirming to get herself free from him soon died down. Why was he scared, could her tiny mishap really have terrified him that much? It was only a small wound, one that she had tended herself on her men plenty of times before. The spot that the blade had gone in on her body wasn't a good area to say the least and she knew that. There was a high risk that the dagger could have hit something vital and she could very well bleed to death if the wound wasn't tended to properly.

Not really knowing why she did it, maybe it had something to do with that look in his eyes, the slight concern that was lingering just under the surface of those brown eyes while his uneasiness seemed to grow more and made a hint of worry come across his handsome face… maybe she really didn't want to bleed out in his bed, but Xena soon stilled her movements so the War God could take care of the potentially lethal injury.

In the meantime, Ares had once again moved his hand back into her cut and –delicately this time- placed his fingers against it but still, she groaned out from the contact. He looked back up at her, seeing the pain that was etched on her gorgeous visage and then he soon turned his attention back to what he was doing. Since she had agitated it with her unruly movements, she had disrupted his work and caused it to hemorrhage more, slightly making the cut just a little bigger with her sudden movements.

He didn't like the amount of blood that was still coming out of it and he thought that maybe something was punctured inside of her and was causing her to bleed. That daunting thought made his brow furrow together worriedly and his chest constricted violently at the prospect. He once again began to clean her wound, this time making sure not to try and cause her anymore pain when she winced every time he touched against the tender area and that was when he finally noticed it. A piece of the dagger was still inside of her and that was causing the bleeding to continue. Every time she moved she had caused it to scrape against her wound. Stubborn woman… why couldn't she just let him tend to her without putting up a fight, but no, she had to relentlessly disobey him every step of the way. He needed to remove the tip if he wanted the wound to heal correctly.

He soon made a table appear at his side with some ointments and bandages on it. The War God wanted to know what it was that made her do something this reckless, sure his Princess did live hazardously but she had put herself in danger unnecessarily for a reason that he could not figure out. Why did she do such a stupid thing?

"This is going to hurt." he said calmly while he looked up into her filled with pain, cerulean eyes.

Xena just nodded her head slightly, knowing that he intended to remove the shard of steel from her body. It was going to hurt like Tartarus, from the many times that she had removed pieces of metal from her soldier's bodies she knew she was going to be in for a lot of pain. She braced herself for what she knew was coming, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath to settle her nerves and then she felt a warm, soothing touch against her cheek. His comforting caress eased her for a moment and she opened her eyes and met his warm chocolate ones. The War God was looking at her so tenderly, the agony that was reflected in his own eyes while he watched her suffering like that had caught Xena off guard. Never had she seen him so vulnerable before, who would have thought that all it would have taken for the War God to show a little compassion was to get herself stabbed by a blade, she might have done it sooner. She would have laughed if she thought that the movement wouldn't cause even more damage.

"Ready?" Ares tenderly asked after a few moments, softly running his fingers through her matted with sweat hair, gently moving her raven tresses out of her face.

"Ready." she finally replied once she took a few more deep breathes to prepare herself.

As soon as he had her answer, Ares moved his hand to her wound and soon stuck his fingers inside so he could pull the blade out. The moment he pierced the area, Xena screamed out in pain while he tried to grab a hold of the piece of metal. Her cries of anguish were doing a number on the War God and he tried to get it over with as soon as possible, he didn't like that he was causing her more suffering. The Warrior Princess felt like she was going to pass out from the torture he was causing her, and if he didn't pull it out soon then she thought that she was going to stab him with her own blade so he would know what it felt like.

"Hold on baby…" he soothingly whispered out, trying to relax her, "… almost got it."

Xena just dug her hands viciously into the bed sheets as he continued to move his fingers within her wound, trying not to move even though all she wanted to do was push him away. She could feel him and the piece of metal, it was like the object was taunting them both, just when it felt like he was going to get it the small piece would slip from his grasp. Her heart wrenching cries of torment filled the room and soon started to constrict the War God's heart. His Princess was silently pleading with her eyes for him to end his torture and he was disgusted of course with himself with the pain that he was causing her. After a few more moments, and cries of distress that were a direct line to his soul, Ares managed to grab a hold of the tip of the blade. The moment he started to extract it from her body though, he felt it break and he pulled out only a half piece.

What kind of steel was this thing made of? It was so brittle and now he had to cause his Princess even more pain to get the second half out of her. Xena just laid there feeling extremely relieved for Ares to have finished what he was doing and then she looked at him and saw the look that was on his face. She knew that look, one that said that everything was far from over and she was indeed going to be in for some more pain.

"Tell me!" she commanded him, she wanted to hear him say it. She had felt it also but she was hoping that it was just the pain that was causing her to hallucinate it.

"There's still a piece there." he confirmed a few seconds later and she just groaned out at his words.

Of course there would be another piece, why would things be easy for her? She couldn't help but laugh bitterly at the situation and then she immediately regretted the action when the pain shot through her abdomen from the movement. She signaled to Ares that she needed a moment before he went back to rooting around inside of her. Once had been excruciating enough and now she had to endure it all over again within a matter of just a few short moments. She was certainly regretting her decision to have blocked that blow, why didn't she just turn away? She had let her heart foolishly get in the way in the middle of a battle, a place where that had no business ever being.

But looking into Ares' eyes now, those warm auburn orbs of his that she loved to look at and that always seemed to soothe her, she knew that she would have taken the exact same decision all over again knowing the outcome, whether he was immortal or not. The Warrior Princess would gladly die for him if that meant that she was able to protect him in any way that she could, even though the last thing the War God needed was any type of protection. They might have argued more than they ever did talking but whenever they were together- just the two of them- lying silently in each other's arms, words would have been too much anyway. It was enough to enjoy the other's comforting presence until one, which was usually her, fell asleep while the other continued to guard.

Ares was growing more anxious, he didn't want to rush her into more pain but he needed to get the piece of metal out of her if he wanted to stop an infection from beginning to set in. He gently reached up and softly ran his fingers along her cheek, doing what little he could do to try and make this as comfortable for her as he could. His Princess simply looked at him, those hypnotizing sapphire eyes of hers were already exhausted from his last intervention, and then she nodded her head slightly as she steadied herself. He moved his hand back to her wound and soon started to try and delicately remove the last remaining piece.

Her cries of agony were tormenting them both, more so the War God since he was the direct cause of her suffering. He hoped that whatever it was that had caused Xena to do what she did was worth it for her to have put herself through this unnecessary nuisance. He couldn't wrap his brain around the reason as to why she had put herself into danger to block a blow that he would have had no problem stopping himself. After a few more moments of her pain staking screams of torture, Xena finally passed out from the pain that was being inflicted on her. A couple of seconds after she had slipped into her unconscious bliss, Ares successfully managed to pull the last remaining fragment of metal out of her. He quickly began to tend to her wound appropriately now that it was finally out.

With quick work he soon had the area cleaned again and he began to patch the wound. Having dressed her cut with the proper care and ointments, he then started to bandage it. With the most caring of gestures- very unlikely for a War God- Ares carefully maneuvered his Princess so that he could wrap the binding around her. Having successfully wrapped it around her middle, he slowly lowered Xena back down on the bed with the most precious of movements. He soon changed the bed sheets since they were stained with her blood and he made a blanket appear and softly laid it on top of her to cover her nude form.

Ares sat down beside his Princess and made a cloth appear and started to gently wipe the perspiration off of her body. He wanted to take care of her and he slowly dabbed at the beads of sweat that were gradually making their way down her face. He moved the blanket down a little, exposing her body to him once again, and moved the cloth to her chest and wiped up the moisture there as well. The War God glided it across her body, a few times ringing the material out and proceeding to make sure that he got every last drop. Having finished his work he moved the blanket back up and tucked her in securely. Once he got that over with, Ares started to leisurely run his fingers through her silky raven tresses, just staring at his sleeping Princess and then leaned forward and placed a tender kiss against her forehead.

Xxxxxxxxx

It had been a few hours since she had passed out and Xena had still yet to wake up thus far. He knew that he really didn't need to worry, her body was struggling to recover from what it had been through and she just needed rest. But he longed for her to open her eyes so she could end the growing despair that was forming in him the longer they remained closed. The War God hadn't left his Princess' side and he wasn't going to until he was able to look upon those dazzling sapphire moons of hers and know that she was really going to be ok. He had checked on her wound throughout all those long hours and it seemed to be healing nicely and there was no sign of an infection. That eased his troubled mind some but he knew what could really relieve it completely was for her to just wake up already.

Several moments later, while he sat huddled at the edge of the bed, yearning for her to put an end to his inner suffering, there came this annoying voice that disrupted his silent vigil. He sighed out irritated, he didn't want to have to deal with her at this moment and given the situation she would only end up making him feel even more worried than he already was. He could already predict the barrage of questions she was going to be throwing at him and he was in no mood to deal with it. All he wanted was to be left alone so he could patiently wait for his Princess to rouse from her slumber. But she was a persistent little nymph who he knew wasn't going to go away until he had at least acknowledge her presence, even if it was to tell her to get lost.

However, the War God was not about to leave Xena alone, not even for one single insignificant second and not completely liking the idea, he let her have access into his bed chamber. No sooner had he allowed her in, a flash of pink sparkles filled the space a few feet away from him and Aphrodite stood there a little annoyed for having had to wait so long to get a response from him.

"Bro! Like what gives, I had been calling for you for what felt like an eternity. What took you so long anyway?" she exasperatedly asked, as if those few minor minutes that she had been waiting for a response from him had robbed her of a few years off of her immortal life.

He didn't bother to answer her though and he just kept gazing at his Princess while she slept soundly, softly smoothing back her raven tresses. The Love Goddess couldn't believe that after all that pointless waiting, instead of apologizing, now he was actually ignoring her. I mean, what could have been that dire that he didn't even bother zinging her with a snarky comment- like he normally used to- about how much pink she wore. She soon let her eyes wander over to him and there he was, sitting beside the Warrior Babe who was lying unconscious on the bed- his bed, to be more precise- soothingly running his fingers through her raven hair and holding her hand tightly in his own. Concern soon filled the Goddess at seeing the expression that was on her brother's face, something had happened to his precious Xena. This was not good and she quickly tried to find out what it was that had happened. Maybe she could somehow help the Warrior Babe and ease that pain that she knew was growing inside of the War Gods' heart while he looked at her so caringly. So that was what she had been feeling for the past few hours, now that she was in the same room as her favorite couple ever, she could feel Ares' heart ache more intensely. It pained her to see him like that, he looked so helpless while he waited for his Princess to open her eyes.

"Ares, what happened to her?"

But she got nothing but the same silent treatment from him and she cautiously made her way over to the bed. She knew that he was hurting on the inside and when he was like that then he could be extremely unpredictable and she didn't want to get caught in that anger. She stood a few feet away from him and peered over his shoulder so she could see the Warrior Babe better. She was lying so still, it made her wonder if she was even still alive, but she soon chased that horrible thought out of her head. No, Xena was alive, of course she was and she was only asleep- probably resting- and she knew without a doubt that had she been dead, then she would have been dealing with a very much fuming with rage War God. That wouldn't have been pleasant for anyone who accidentally happened to be nearby and something that she was going to try and keep from happening if she could.

Very slowly, and she actually hesitated for a moment thinking that it was probably not a good idea after all, she reached her hand out and placed it on Ares' shoulder. He flinched the tiniest amount from the contact but to her relief he didn't immediately attack her for having dared do that. He was too wrapped up on watching his Princess' chest rising and falling, taking note of her every breath to even have the time to deal with her at the moment. The Goddess just stood there, waiting patiently for him to actually acknowledge that she was there, letting him go at his own pace. It would not be wise to push him, especially when it came to Xena. That was something that she had learned the hard way a long time back. After what felt like a millennia, but was really only a matter of minutes, Ares turned his head the slightest inch in the Love Goddess' direction. That was a very small sign that told her that she could proceed to get a tiny bit closer but not too close. Debating it with herself for a moment and thinking that it would be ok, the Love Goddess slowly took a seat on the bed beside Xena. She looked up to her brother's face and could see the worry that was etched on it and her heart broke, she knew how much the Warrior Babe meant to him and sometimes she wondered if Ares even realized it himself. But at times like these, his feelings for her were more than obvious and she guessed that he was probably having a vicious battle with himself in trying to deny it still. He was totally in love with his Princess and his sweet, gentle caresses told the Love Goddess just how much. It was an incredible sight to see to Aphrodite, it made her powers surge even more at witnessing it and the depth of his love was truly amazing and she was so happy that he had finally found someone to give it to.

With a barely noticeable movement, the Goddess had shifted her hand to Xena's leg, she wanted to know what it was that was wrong with her and she let her energy flow through her for a moment. Not for a single second was she going to let this immense joy that had come into her brother's lonely life be taken away from him if she could somehow prevent it. The War God had lived for far too long without a drop of happiness in his life and she knew that Xena had brought him incredible amounts of joy that she had never seen in him before. Sure, he tried to hide the effects that the Warrior Princess brought on him but the Love Goddess could see it in his eyes, whenever he talked about her, just the mere mention of her name or when she would just walk into the room. His entire mood would suddenly change and it was like he was taking a breath of fresh air for the first time in his long immortal life when she was around and his eyes came to rest on her.

It was very rare and the Love Goddess had only seen it a few times throughout her immortal life but she knew that what the two of them shared for one another was true love. They both denied it of course, stubborn those two were, but she could feel it between them and every day it grew even stronger and she just relished in the feeling. She figured it out, after a few times and clever detective work that is, that when Ares and Xena would make love she would get this overwhelming feeling of warmth and not to mention that the War God would be in a surprisingly cheerier mood. Of course he wasn't going around giving out flowers and hugs and redecorating his ghastly temples with another color besides black, that would have been a major shock indeed, but it would be small unnoticeable hints that anyone who didn't know him would not have thought about. For instance, in moments like that, he would be far more indulgent than usually, letting things slide by – mistakes that he wouldn't have thought twice of punishing no matter how insignificant the act was- . And whenever they fought, may the Fates have blessed the unfortunate soul who got in his way and hers for that matter. But make up sex was sometimes even better and most of the time she thought that they just fought so they could have a reason to fuck each other endlessly for hours besides the fact that they just wanted to rip each other's clothes off every time they saw each other.

She had caught them in the act once, they just happened to appear in her portal one day when she was checking up on a few things, it could have happened to anyone really. A slight interference with the wave lengths or something, she wasn't really sure, and then poof there they were. But what she had witnessed between them had made the Love Goddess blush considerably. They were two very much in love and very lost in the throes of passion as their moans and grunts came falling out infinitely from her portal while their bodies rejoined several times- which was pretty impressive to her one might say, since one of them was mortal, in a perfect display of what two people who wanted each other quite extensively looked like. Their encounter proved to be very spicy and sometimes she found herself covering her eyes and thinking that maybe she shouldn't even be watching this but she felt so rejuvenated from their passionate love making that she just couldn't help herself , plus, by the time that they were finished- which had been an extraordinary length of time and one she didn't think that she could have lasted herself really- she had felt like a complete outsider for having intruded on such a private moment between them when Ares had so delicately gathered Xena in his arms and placed a sweet, loving kiss against her head while she curled up to him and drifted off to sleep in his embrace with her head lying on his chest.

Removing her hand from Xena's leg, way before Ares had the chance to sense her essence surrounding his beloved, the Love Goddess picked up nothing that would have caused alarm. She let out a small sigh of relief, knowing that the Warrior Babe was not in any permanent danger and was not going to forever scar the War God's heart. He was just a man in love and was waiting anxiously for her to open her eyes again from whatever had caused her to lose consciousness in the first place. The Goddess tried to see if she could find out what it was that had happened to her.

"What's wrong with her, Ares?" she asked once again, hoping that this time he would actually answer.

After a few more moments, the War God had finally decided to grace her with an answer so he turned his head in Aphrodite's direction for a split second and then refocused on his Princess.

"We were fighting and she got stabbed." he offered up while he continued to smooth back her raven locks.

"You stabbed her?!" the Love Goddess asked completely in shock by his words, never would she have thought that he would dare take their training so far - he was completely crazy about her for Zeus sake- "I mean, I know you guys fight but that is a little extreme don't cha think?"

"I didn't stab her!" he yelled out aggressively, glaring daggers at his sister for having even suggested that he did. "We were in a battle and, for the life of me I can't figure out why, she stepped in the way of a blow and got herself hit with a dagger."

"That's not so bad, right? I mean it was only a little cut."

Ares just glared at the Love Goddess, sometimes he wondered whether her head was really filled with air underneath all that cascading blonde hair. The things that came tumbling out of her mouth were truly astonishing sometimes.

"No, it** wasn't** a small cut!" he cruelly answered, making the Goddess flinch from the harshness of his words, "The tip of the blade broke off inside of her and I had to dig it out of her wound. I had to do it twice since that accursed piece of metal broke again and she passed out from the pain and she hasn't woken up since."

Next they fell back into silence, and Aphrodite could see that he was extremely agitated and she didn't want to anger him more. The only thing that was going to calm him down was if Xena opened her eyes. Considering that it had been several hours since she had passed out, it looked like she wasn't going to be doing that any time soon though, stubbornly deciding to torment the War God some more. Ares couldn't help but smile to himself- even when she wasn't aware of it his Princess was constantly defying him. How could she have passed up this chance to really get under his skin, making him go out of his mind until she finally decided to flutter open those baby blues of hers, the little vixen! He wanted to throttle her and then fuck her senseless for hours, but at the same time he was worried to death that he might have agitated her wound too much while searching for that accursed blade and all he could do was grip her hand more tightly in his own, hoping that she would soon squeeze back and feverishly smooth back her hair.

Watching that rare display of affection made tears well up in the Love Goddess' eyes. Oh, how she wished that she could end his suffering! After trying to hold it back, but not being able to control herself any longer, Aphrodite soon sniffled and wiped at the tears that had started to roll down her cheeks. The image she had before her eyes was just so beautiful!

That vile sound immediately caught Ares' attention and he looked in her direction and saw that she was crying.

"What are you crying for?!" he barked out, she wasn't at a funeral and there was no need for her to be crying, "She's not dead, she's only sleeping!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that** this**…" she gestured to the display of what Ares was doing in front of her with Xena, "…. it's just so touching and I'm just a sap for romantic moments." she happily replied through her tears of joy and wiped at them again, trying to compose herself.

The War God didn't wait long to roll his eyes at her explanation. Her sickening love crap was not what he wanted to hear about right now. His Princess was practically hanging in limbo between life and death and the Goddess was getting all mushy on him because what, he was touching her hair?

"Isn't there someplace else you need to be?" he rudely asked, being very blunt on the fact that he wanted her to leave.

"Actually I was sent here to get you. Zeus wanted to see you and since you weren't answering his summoning I volunteered to see why you were ignoring him this time. I can see why you weren't in any hurry to hear what it was that he wanted."

"Well you wasted your time then because I am not going."

"Ares you have to." she pleaded with him, "You'll only succeed in getting yourself in even more trouble if you don't."

"I'm not leaving until she opens her eyes." the War God firmly stated and there was going to be no changing his mind on the matter. He wasn't going to leave his Princess alone when she needed him.

"If you don't go then Zeus will come here and I'm pretty sure that won't be good for you or Xena." Aphrodite answered as a means to convince him and she knew that she had struck a chord with the War God when his angry eyes flashed to her and she felt the fury that began to rise in him.

"He wouldn't dare touch her!" Ares growled out protectively, "I'd kill him first! Besides…" he turned his head back to look at his Princess, running his fingers tenderly down her cheek, "… she is my Chosen and he can't harm her, it's forbidden."

"He might not be able to harm her directly, Ares, but he could still make her suffer slowly and force you to watch it." she regretfully said, knowing well what their father was capable of and not liking the images that were already flashing in her mind at the thought of a bound with rage War God having to endure the sight of his beloved Xena in excruciating pain and not being able to do anything to stop it, "Do you really want to take that chance?"

Ares was completely at odds with himself…No he didn't want that to happen and for once, his ditsy sister did have a point. That wretched old man would most likely do that if it meant that he could punish him where it would hurt the most and every God on Olympus knew about his fixation with Xena. But at the same time he didn't want to leave her, what if something happened while he was gone, he would never forgive himself. The War God looked back at his Princess, she looked so beautiful as she laid there peacefully and he soon leaned in and placed a kiss against her cheek.

"I don't want to leave her alone." he whispered out, more to himself then for the Love Goddess to hear.

"I'll stay with her until you get back." Aphrodite cheerily offered, scooting closer to the Warrior Babe and attempting to reach for her other hand that the War God wasn't holding on to like a life line.

On instinct, Ares immediately leaned more protectively into Xena and cast his sister a deadly glare for having even entertained the notion of touching his Princess. He regretted the action though at seeing the hurt that came across her eyes, he knew that the Love Goddess wouldn't intentionally hurt her. He sighed out deeply and turned his attention back to what he held most dear, he softly caressed her hair once more and leaned forward and placed a tender kiss against her forehead.

"I'll be back soon." he whispered against her ear, placing another kiss against the side of her head and then got up, ready to leave.

The Love Goddess just watched him while he fought a vicious battle with himself, he was that torn. She knew that the last thing that the War God wanted to do was to leave her side but he really had no choice, unless he wanted Zeus to show up on his door step and that would not be pleasant for anyone. After a few more moments of will he or won't he, Ares turned around to look at her and he nodded his head slightly, which meant that she better keep a good watch over his Princess, and just as fast he vanished from the room.

Aphrodite soon moved to occupy the spot where he had been sitting and softly ran her hand against the Warrior Princess' head. The poor thing, after all she had been through, no wonder that she needed her rest. Not to mention that Ares had been probably keeping her from getting any real sleep at night- they certainly did go at it for hours from what she had seen of the onetime of their love making and figured it was most likely a recurring situation and this was her only chance to catch up on some much needed rest.

"Looks like it is just you and me now Warrior Babe." she pleasantly whispered out and then placed a sweet kiss against her head, just like she had seen her brother doing before.

Xxxxxxxxxx

A few hours had gone by and the Love Goddess was growing extremely bored, how did Ares do this? Sitting around and waiting for him to return and having nothing to do in the meantime was driving her crazy. Not to mention that her roommate was out cold and was offering her no sort of company at the moment. Plus, everything was made worse because she had to sit there and look at the awful décor of his bed chamber. Black, black, black… she couldn't believe that he had actually brought Xena here out of all places when he wanted to have his way with her. But then again, Ares could be really romantic at times with him worshipping the Warrior Babe's body practically almost every second of the day, how could she have really wasted her time on thinking about what color the room was? She was probably so filled with so much unimaginable pleasure that Xena most likely didn't even realize that she was still in that world let alone that room.

But still, the place was really depressing and it was totally sucking the life out of her. She needed something to try and outweigh the nausea that was slowly taking over her. With a small wave of her hand she made two fluffy pink pillows appear, she took one and proceeded to put it behind Xena's head. As she moved her a little, the blanket had fallen down her body a small amount and the Love Goddess gasped out at the sight she had before her.

"Gods, Ares, why couldn't you cover the poor girl?" she said to no one in particular since she was really only talking to herself now.

Her brother could be such a barbarian sometimes… The Warrior Babe had just been through a traumatic experience and he didn't even bother putting some decent clothes on her. The Goddess was sure that he would definitely like her naked all the time but come on, Xena was trying to recover from a wound and the last thing she needed was Ares' hungry with desire eyes roaming over her nude form, ready to devour her at any given moment. What girl in their right mind could focus on healing when she had those smoldering auburn eyes upon her every second of the day, making her want to just jump his bones and that kind of physical activity between them would only slow down the healing process. Even though Aphrodite was confident that Xena would most likely enjoy every last second of that sweet torture, that was just not going to do for the Love Goddess and she soon materialized a bright pink sexy little number on her. She was certain that Ares was not going to like the color, always choosing to dress her in those dark blues, reds and not to mention black, but she was positive that he would appreciate how nicely it fit her body. The Warrior Princess just looked so cute while she laid there in her new outfit!

With half of the problem solved now, the Goddess now started to wonder why the Warrior Babe didn't object to the things that Ares would have her wear. Clearly she couldn't have enjoyed wearing those horrifying looking things that he used to conjure up, but then again she had never heard Xena complain too much because her own taste in wardrobe was practically just as bad as her brother's. Take her battle leathers for instance, black, what was it about that color to the warrior types? Was there just something about it that made them have to have it dominate their clothes, some kind of unwritten rule that only they were privileged to know about? She shuddered at the thought at having to wear something so depressing for the rest of her life. She wouldn't know what she would do if she couldn't have pink in something. Maybe the Warrior Babe wouldn't mind her changing her outfit a bit, adding a nice fusion pink into the seam work or maybe a nice turquoise. That would outline her quite nicely and she quickly made a scroll appear and made a note to bring it up to her later.

The Love Goddess soon took her other pillow and made her way to the other side of the bed and moved to lie next to Xena and propped the pillow under her head and made a bright pink blanket materialize and draped it over herself. That was so much better and taking a look around she already felt much more relaxed. She glanced over at her bed mate and shortly started to run her eyes over her and then she got to her nails.

"Good Gaia, Xena!" she exclaimed and hastily made a nail file appear and picked up her hand, "It's a good thing I'm here or Ares would soon move on at the sight of these things."

She started to work her magic on her, filled with a new determination to give the Warrior Babe a whole new look and by the time she was done with her the War God would be indubitably speechless.

"You know, you should really take into effect the material things Xena." she told her as she continued to file her nails, "It wouldn't hurt ya if you spent a little more time on your appearance instead of covering yourself in blood all the time. That is like so hard to get out of your clothes. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about here." she cleverly informed as if the Warrior Princess was hanging on to her every word, "I once made the mistake of visiting Ares when he was on a battlefield and I got blood on my favorite dress, can you believe that? It was just horrible and it totally ruined that delicate, outrageously expensive fabric! It was something rather similar to what I'm wearing now but I couldn't get it out and I had to burn the accursed dress. I couldn't be seen in that again and I was totally depressed for months about it."

In the meantime, Xena was slowly coming back to consciousness and all she could hear was this annoying voice in her ear. After a few more moments she recognized who it belonged to and she groaned to herself, what was she jabbering on about? Something about a dress maybe, she thought that was something that she picked up on throughout all that gibberish. She tried to see if she could move and then winced. Gods her side felt like it was on fire. Idly she began to try and open her eyes and she squinted from the bright light in the room.

She felt like she was burning up and she looked around the room for a moment. She knew where she was, she was in Ares' bed chamber but where was he and why did he leave her with Aphrodite who was talking her ear off? Was this some new form of torture that he had for her for having blocked that blow? She would promise never to do it again if the Goddess would just stop talking. Xena attempted to move her head and she looked to her left to see the Love Goddess sitting casually beside her. She made an effort to speak but at first nothing came out, her mouth was incredibly dry.

"Aphrodite…" she breathed out weakly, once she mustered up enough strength to get her name out.

"Warrior Babe, you're awake!" she exclaimed happily. "This is so wonderful, Ares is going to be so happy to see that you are. Between you and me he was a complete mess the whole time you were asleep. It was so sweet though, you should have seen him. But then you wouldn't have been asleep and he wouldn't have been going crazy so you couldn't have seen it, just take my word for it…."

"Aphrodite…" Xena moaned out again, she was trying to get her attention but she just wouldn't stop talking. Oh dear Gods, her side hurt terribly, when was the last time someone had checked her bandage? She was certain that she had a fever, she could feel the sweat making its way down her face, and that only meant one thing. The wound must have gotten infected.

"Yes, that's me, not to worry Xena, I'm here for you. But since you are awake I wanted to get your opinion on something."

Not getting an answer right away she just continued, silently remarking just how similar Ares and his Princess were at times. It was no wonder that the two of them were together, they were just so much alike.

"I had this idea about eggs, you know, and that we should paint them different colors. But that's not the most difficult part. I mean what type of eggs should we use? Do we want big ones, small ones, glass ones…. Or maybe we could use real ones, cook them and then decorate them. What do you think? I'm leaning more towards the real ones…."

Xena just groaned out in discomfort, the Goddess was going to be no help to her at all. Even if she did manage to get her to stop talking about herself for a minute, she wouldn't even know what to do to try and help her. She attempted to move again but it hurt too much and it seemed like it drained all of her energy just trying to move her head. Finally she managed to slowly place her hand to her wound, she couldn't see it covered under this blanket but she touched against it slightly. The pain that shot through her made her grind her teeth to stop herself from screaming out in pain. Before she could even try and do anything else, her world had soon slipped back into darkness.

Shards of blue light immediately filled the room a few seconds later and Ares swiftly ran his eyes over his Princess, it appeared that she was still sleeping.

"Bro! I'm so glad you're here, Xena's awake!" she shouted out excitedly and turned to look at her, "Oh, well she was… she must of needed some extra rest I guess."

The War God didn't waste any time and he rushed back over to Xena. So she had been awake and he could have sworn that he had felt her in pain so he came back as soon as he could. Having reached her, he placed his hand against her head and felt that she was burning up. Ares quickly pulled back the blanket from her, just to find that his ditsy sister had put her in this illegally colored obscene fabric. He hastily made it vanish from his Princess' body and turned his attention to her wound. He could already see the blood that was seeping through the bandage.

"When was the last time you changed her bandage?!" Ares asked, extremely irritated.

"I… I didn't know…"

"Save it!' he quickly cut her off, he should have known better than to leave her with Dite.

He carefully pulled back her dressing and could see that the area was enflamed, it had gotten infected. Gods damn it, all she had to do was watch her and now his Princess' condition had worsened. Ares needed to give her something to help fight the infection but he also needed her to wake up again.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I think you've done enough already. Just leave!" he told her coldly, not bothering to even look at her while he harshly kicked her out.

Aphrodite didn't even try and protest, she knew she had made a mistake. How could she have been so foolish as not to have checked her bandages? She had told her brother that she would watch over his beloved and yet she had let herself do everything but what she had promised to do. She left his bed chamber without another word.

The War God didn't even take notice that she had left, he had much more important things to worry about at the moment then his sister's hurt feelings. He made a small table appear with a steaming pot of a special made blend that would help counteract the infection. Now all he needed to do was wake his sleeping Princess so she could drink it. He moved his hand to her face and soon started to lightly run his fingers against her cheek, gently trying to coax her back awake.

"Come on baby…. wake up." he murmured out soothingly to her, hoping that his voice would have the desired effect that he wanted.

Xena mewed a little at the sound of his voice and her head moved faintly into his touch. She didn't open her eyes though and he continued to softly stroke her cheek to rouse her. He leaned in closer to her and rested his forehead against hers, tenderly starting to caress her hair.

"Come on…" he whispered against her mouth and then captured her lips in a warm kiss, he wanted to give her an incentive to do so and a kiss seemed like the best option, "… open your eyes…." he brushed his lips against hers some more, "…. Xena, my sweet…." he kissed her softly for a few seconds longer, moving to deepen the kiss more as he grazed his lips against hers more sensually and he could have bet his godhood that he heard a low moan escape from her throat while she lightly kissed him back and he smiled against her lips as he continued to kiss her.

Who was really seducing who there, she was such an imp! He couldn't believe it, even in her weakened state she still got him to do what she wanted. Softly moving her lips against his, parting her mouth just enough to allow him some access and making the slow sensual kiss grow more tender. Oh, she was good all right and if she hadn't been wounded then the War God would have given in to her needy little kiss and gradually work his way to filling her body with endless amounts of pleasure while making passionate love to her for the next several hours. He then pulled back from her, those incredibly arousing thoughts of having her moaning out his name while he thrust his cock into her relentlessly was making it nearly impossible for him to not just give in to the urge, he moved his hand to her face once again and started caressing her cheek.

Those kisses seemed to have done the trick though and his Princess' gorgeous sapphire eyes slowly began to flutter open. Ares' whole body filled with relief at finally seeing those piercing blues after so long of being denied the joy of gazing upon them, it was the most amazing sight he found himself looking into once they finally made contact with his own. He never wanted to have been deprived of looking at them again.

The War God carefully moved to help her sit up and he poured a cup of his concoction and gave it to her. "Drink this, Darling it will help with the swelling and reduce the fever."

The Warrior Princess took the goblet from his hand without any questions and slowly started to drink it. It tasted absolutely disgusting was he trying to finish the job?! It was bad enough that he had tortured her with Aphrodite and now he was trying to poison her with this mixture of Gods know what.

"What is this?" she weakly asked, holding the dreadful tasting liquid as far away as she could. The smell alone could kill her!

"Don't worry about that. You just make sure you drink it all." the tone in his voice told her that there was no way that she was going to get out of it. She cast him an annoyed look for having to be forced to down this terrible substance and quickly drank it all to get it over with. Once she had drunk it all he took the goblet from her hand and made it vanish, and he soon started to redress her wound to make sure that it wouldn't get even worse.

When he was finally done with it, he moved to lie down next to her and gently pulled her into his arms. To Xena, that was the best medicine in the world, feeling his arms around her and in response, she softly burrowed herself into him more shifting just a little in his cozy embrace so she could nestle her head in the crook of his shoulder and she let out a deep, exhausting breath from the small movement. They laid like that for a few moments, just enjoying each other's presence. Ares was still worried, but he was there now and he wasn't about to leave her side again for anything in the world. The thought still weighed heavily on his mind though, why did she do what she did? What was she hoping to gain from that, it had been a reckless decision it was as clear as daylight and he couldn't see what it was that had motivated her to do it in the first place. And now, he had to sit there and hold his breath because her infection could get worse and she could get taken away from him so easily because of her foolishness. He tried to push it from his mind- the perspective of a life without her in it was creating havoc on his soul and one that he didn't want to think about. His arms soon tightened their hold while he tried to banish the thought but he still wanted to know, what on earth had possessed her to do that?

"Why did you do it Xena?" the question finally left his lips, while patiently waiting for her answer and he started to lovingly run his fingers through her silky raven tresses.

It took her a moment to reply, trying to find the courage to actually say it or keep it to herself and lie. But in the end, she really didn't know why she went for the truth. It might have been the fever talking, or it could have something to do with the tone of his voice that made her say it out loud. He sounded so wounded and he was desperately needing some sort of relief and so she did not lie, she was completely honest with him.

"Because…." she whispered out softly, taking a moment to catch her breath from the simple act of speaking, "…. that's what we mortals do…. we protect the people we love…" Xena soon moved her hand to his chest and softly laid it against his heart.

His Princess fell asleep soon after her declaration, just a few seconds later and the War God was dumbstruck. She had more or less said that she loved him, he couldn't believe it! Sure, he had secretly hoped that she did return his feelings, but he had only speculated in the past, a certain look in her eyes or the way they would make love sometimes. There were no games when they were together like that, no one was cleverly trying to take control, they were just two people who gave themselves willingly to each other, two lovers joined together in the most intimate way possible, looking to feel complete as they passionately made love for hours. He knew that he loved this woman with every fiber of his immortal being and there was nothing that he wouldn't do for her. She had freely put herself in danger to try and protect him, even though she knew that he didn't need it. Ares could count on one hand just how many people would do that for him, the list wasn't very long and in the end, it only came down to one person, his Princess. He loved her even more for that and he pulled her a little closer to himself. The War God knew that he would do the exact same thing for her within a heartbeat.

"Stay with me Xena… stay with me…." he whispered out softly to her while he nuzzled his head against hers.

A few short moments later he slowly let his hand glide down towards hers that was lying lazily on his chest. He softly placed his on top of hers and let his fingers wrap around into her palm and gently ran his thumb back and forth along her index finger. Not long after, her fingers started to gradually curl around his and she delicately returned his hold. The War God squeezed her hand slightly and then brought it up and placed a kiss against it and then softly placed their joined hands back against his heart.

It belonged to her anyway….. and she would protect it.

Xxxxxxxxx

Several days had passed and the Warrior Princess was still healing from her wound. The infection had cleared up and Ares soon healed it but she was still a little bit weak. There's no need to mention that the War God was just a hovering pest- even more than usual- and it annoyed her beyond words. She barely had a moment to herself, he was just constantly there crowding her. Didn't he have anything better to do then watch her every move every moment of the day, it was as if he was just waiting for her to suddenly fall ill again. Xena had to finally kick him out of his own fortress so she could have a few moments of blessed peace to herself without having him constantly following her around.

It had actually been a few hours now since she had sent the War God packing, threatening to cause bodily harm to him if he didn't leave, and now she was lazily sitting in his throne room, quite bored actually. She couldn't help wondering why she had entered that room in the first place, it was not like there was a lot to do around there and sitting there alone, doing nothing was making everything rather dull. Even though she had practically kicked him out, telling herself that he was driving her crazy with his presence breathing down her neck, she found herself on more than one occasion about to ask the War God a question and turning to look at him only to chastise herself for it later when she realized that there was nothing but an empty space. It had only been a matter of minutes when Ares had left that she had done that the first time.

Every time after that, she felt more stupid, she had forced him to leave just to constantly look over her shoulder for him, especially when she got an idea and wanted to get an opinion about it. She huffed out an irritated breath, the War God had practically glued himself to her side for days, making her get accustomed to him just being there and all she had to do was just look over and there he was and now he was just gone. It infuriated her to think that now she actually missed his company, but no, no, no… she had wanted him gone, she wanted to be able to take a breath without having to smell his intoxicating fragrance the moment she inhaled. That's just what she needed to do, just take a long deep breath and push the thought of him out of her mind and just enjoy the time she had to herself.

So that's just what she did, the Warrior Princess inhaled a deep long breath of fresh air, not invaded with that overly stimulating perfume that made her senses go absolutely crazy, then slowly exhaled it. She immediately hated it, Gods damn it, now she couldn't even enjoy breathing without it being spoiled by the fact that it did not smell like Ares. And now she had convinced herself of the fact that he was still away just to torture her and make her yearn for his presence again. He just thought he was so clever, didn't he, what was he doing really? Half the time he was complaining that there were no decent warriors out there that deserved his attention for long and now he had disappeared on her for hours. The War Gods' cunning little plan to shove his essence down her throat just too abruptly snatch it away from her to try and make her desire it again was completely and thoroughly the most childish thing he could do and, believe it or not, it was….. working!

But oh no, she was not going to call for him, and that was that! If he wanted to show back up then he was going to have to come on his own. Just how long could he really stay away, anyway? Not even when they fought, did the War God disappear on her for more than a day or two, arrogantly creeping his way back into her personal space, standing annoyingly way too close to her and always bringing that accursed red rose with him as some sort of peace offering when she was still thoroughly pissed at him, thinking that it would just make her hatred disappear. But oh dear Gods, was that make up sex something else entirely! It was as if the small amount of time that they had spent away from each other had ravenously made their bodies crave the other when they were in close proximity again.

Once she would finally accept the rose from him, therefore consenting that she had forgiven him, a simple caress was enough to set them off. It wasn't long after that they would feverishly pull at the other's clothing while Ares would soon hoist her up, pinning her against a wall and quickly thrusting his cock within her, making her pant heavily against him while he plunged his engorged shaft into her with rapid, short consistent thrusts until she would convulse violently around him and they would slide down slowly to the floor still firmly locked together so intimately. Feeling his throbbing shaft still so deep inside of her would hastily build the passion within Xena again and she would soon make quick work of the War Gods minor distraction while he would plant gentle kisses against her neck, and she would push him backwards onto the floor.

Still being joined together, Ares would take her with him and the new position would cause him to spear his Princess more deeply and she would hungrily start to rock her hips slowly against him, sexily biting her lower lip as she moaned out lowly from the unique feeling of him inside of her. His hands would instinctively make their way to her hips, moving with her while she would deliberately torture him with her incredibly sensual movements. The tempo would gradually begin to increase, his grip on her hips tightening their hold as she would rock against him more energetically, building such a delicious friction that would swiftly make them both hunger for so much more and the War God would shortly flip them over and start to steadily thrust himself within her. Her sweet cries of pleasure would be tumbling from her throat and Ares would expertly move to capture each and every last one of them while claiming her lips in a passionate kiss, never ceasing his rhythm as he plunged his swollen cock into her repeatedly. Their moans of pleasure would be falling ceaselessly out of their mouths, caressing each other's ears while their bodies moved as one for the next several hours.

Xena immediately chased those thoughts out of her mind. They were unbelievably arousing and now she was completely turned on. It had been quite some time since they had last engaged in any physical activity like that. Now her thoughts were running rampant at the image of their bodies connecting so intimately again after so long. But what was she doing, she was supposed to be enjoying her time without him there, not fantasizing about the War God sprawling her out on his bed and letting him have his way with her. She quickly tried to reign in what her mind was so wildly trying to dominate her with. She soon got up from his throne, just sitting there in it seemed to make the thoughts grow more prominent and making her body crave him.

The Warrior Princess made her way over to a table a few feet away that held some of her battle plans that she was supposed to be working on in the first place. That was just what she needed, a distraction and something that was finally going to get her mind off of him. Xena shortly started to look over what she had worked out earlier to see if there was something she wanted to change or add. Now that she had some time to think things over, a fresh look should bring a new idea or two. She had only got about a few minutes into her studying of her new plan when suddenly every single nerve in her body went absolutely crazy within the matter of a second.

Ares was back and those arousing thoughts from earlier had done quite a number on her body and having the War God so close had ignited her nerves into frenzy. Her body was longing for him to touch her again and she immediately felt the moisture form between her legs when that glorious blue light signaled his arrival a few feet away from her. His undeniably, completely inebriating aroma immediately filled the air around her and her eyes drifted shut for a moment at smelling that unique fragrance, making her grip on the quill that she had been holding to tighten even more and while that scent filled her lungs once again, her hold got so strong that the quill soon snapped in half from the pressure, by the Gods! She needed to get a grip, one would have thought that she was some Hestian virgin who was ready to be ravished with the way her body was trembling by his mere presence. The Warrior Princess rapidly reprimanded herself for her adolescent reaction; the last thing she needed was for the War God to know just how badly she wanted to fuck him.

"I came up with a new plan while you were off doing whatever War Gods do in their spare time and…." Xena had started to inform him but his mind was miles away from whatever it was that she was saying.

All that time, Ares had been quite observant of his Princess' every reaction. The way her body had stiffened the moment she felt his presence, how she was strangling the life out of that quill until she had finally taken mercy on it and ended its life, not to mention that deep breath she took as her eyes drifted shut and then slowly exhaled it, he could smell her arousal from where he stood. For the past several days he had thought about nothing but fucking her Gods damn brains out and it was a good thing that she had kicked him out or he might have just chained her to his bed and fucked her wild until she begged him to stop and he had actually managed to douse those thoughts while he was gone. But coming back here now and finding her completely in heat made him want to shove his cock into her even more urgently. She was quite the temptress, standing there the way she did, provocatively enticing him with that outrageously frustrating piece of clothing she was wearing that was just highlighting her every curve and making him want to run his hands all over her body and other parts of her anatomy as well.

The War God had slowly began to make his way to his beautiful siren that was silently luring him to her. The thoughts about what he was going to do to her were running wild in his mind. She tried to act like him getting closer wasn't affecting her, intentionally avoiding to make eye contact with him and trying to stay focused on that little plan that she had come up with, but he could see right through that, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her at that moment. As Ares inched his way closer, he could feel the highly anticipated thrill that was coming from her body at the awareness that he might touch her soon. Oh, he was going to touch her alright, in so many places and in so many different ways that he was going to make her every nerve burn with untamed desire. Having reached her, he cunningly delayed that long awaited caress that her every pore was just yearning for but was viciously trying to deny.

His Princess was still trying to keep her focus though, continuing to rearrange the pieces on the map and attempting to keep her desires in check as his essence slowly crept over her, completely engulfing her senses and making a whole new wave of lust course through her body when he gradually imprisoned her against the table. The War God had still yet to touch her and Xena thought that she was going to explode from anticipation of feeling his caress. She tried to push it out of her mind but then, with the lightest contact he grazed his hand against her side, that single touch exhilarating her entire being. The next thing she knew, his palm was roaming against her thigh, moving ever so slowly against her skin and she tried to hold back the low moan that demanded its freedom from her mouth.

"My army will move to this ridge over here…" she moved her hand to where on the map she was talking about, "… we will be able to flank them and… cut off any reinforcements they might think of sending." she mumbled, but his hand kept moving on her leg , rising the intensity of the passion within her at unbelievable heights and as it slowly crept to her inner thigh, there was no holding back the tremor and slight whimper that her traitorous body had so freely given.

Ares smiled into her hair, inhaling her intoxicating scent while she still tried to fight against what he knew her body so clearly wanted. He moved his hand higher up her thigh, inching his way to where he wanted to bury himself so badly. The Warrior Princess was once again trying to stay impassive to his ministrations but all that soon changed the moment he slipped his fingers under the already drenched with her arousal garment she was wearing and started to stroke her. Her head soon fell back in ecstasy against his shoulder from the pleasure that was now flowing through her from his stimulating caresses. Even though he was filling her body with pleasure, she was still trying to keep that small wall intact and she was moaning and panting her way throughout the rest of her scheme.

The things he was making her feel, Xena was completely lost in the sensation of his touch, grinding down on his hand a little, a bit irritated that he was moving just a little too slow for her liking. She didn't know why she was still trying to get all the way through with her tactic, at this point all she wanted was to feel him inside of her. Her breathing grew more labored when, as if reading her thoughts, he glided his fingers down to her opening and pushed them into her, making a very wanton moan fall out of her slightly parted lips and she gripped the table to steady herself. His slow torturous movements were driving her insane, leisurely moving his fingers within her just enough to heighten that passion before removing them and making her crave for him and if he didn't fuck her soon then she was just going to have to take matters into her own hands.

In all that time, she had actually managed to finish informing the War God of her new plan. "So what do you think?" she asked, a bit breathless from his touch, turning around just to be taken aback by a pair of auburn ones filled with pretty much the same thing.

"I think that it has been far too long since I've been inside you and it's time that we rectified that situation." Ares whispered out seductively against her mouth, gently gliding his hands slowly down her body once again.

"Do you now?" Xena asked, completely thrilled at the prospect of him making love to her for hours but trying not to seem too eager about it.

"Absolutely." he breathed out right before he crashed his lips against hers in an all-consuming soul searing kiss that told his Princess that he was going to ravish her.

It wasn't long after that Ares had hoisted her up onto the table and swiftly pulled her closer to himself. This had been the longest that he had gone without making love to her and he had every intention of making up for all that lost time tonight. Right now though, he really needed to be inside her, he could go slow later and take his time pleasuring her out of her mind, and he made quick work of their clothing and, before anything else could have the slightest chance of stopping this coupling, the War God positioned himself and then grabbed a hold of her hips and plunged his cock into her with one deep powerful thrust. Xena gasped out from the force of his penetration, moaning out lowly when he started to move within her with one goal in mind while he rammed his cock into her fast and hard. Taking her almost savagely, he moved with a somewhat brute force as he took her, causing her guttural moans to tumble out of her mouth and to harshly pant in his ear while she enjoyed every wonderful second of his powerful thrusts.

Xena wrapped her legs around him, trying to gain what little leverage that she could from his passionate assault and seeing if she could somehow push back against him while he entered her relentlessly. But that just gave him better access while she angled her body perfectly for him and Ares held her hips firmly in place, driving himself even more deeply into her and causing her breathy whimpers to come out more labored by the new strength of his thrusts while he rammed into her. She knew that this was going to be one of their rougher encounters but she loved the beast in him and she was more than ready to be devoured by it, arching into him more and crying out his name in pleasure while he filled her repeatedly.

The things that he evoked from her body as he steadily plunged his engorged shaft into her, by the Gods, it was the most amazing thing that she had ever felt. She had been waiting for this joining just as much as he had been and each thrust of his cock drove her closer and closer to what she was longing for.

"Oh, dear Gods…" she gasped out from his unwavering thrusts, viciously dragging her nails down his back as he kept on with his pace, the intensity of which she had never felt before and one would have thought that they hadn't seen each other in years with the way the War God drove his cock into her.

"No baby…" Ares whispered out while he kissed against her neck, thrusting himself even deeper into her for a few moments more, causing her sweet moans of bliss to caress his ear before he soon stopped his thrusts and pulled back to look at his Princess, "… just me…" he murmured out before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss and then continuing with his urgent movements within her again. Snaking his arm around her waist to bring her flush up against him, he ran his other hand along her thigh before finding its resting place against her hip and pulling her closer while he surged into her with a fierce passion, her hoarse cries of ecstasy falling boundlessly out of her mouth while she moaned and panted out her satisfaction from his forceful thrusts.

The Warrior Princess just held on to him while their bodies joined together endlessly, taking extreme pleasure in the force of his thrusts, filling her so completely in a way that only the War God could have ever done. Her harsh pants were filling his throne room and only seemed to make the War God even more determined in causing her the most maximum pleasure. A feral growl formed in his throat at feeling her pulsate around his swollen cock, encasing him so tightly that it only made him swell more and he drove himself into her sweet depths harder, causing her to gasp out, exhilarated from it before they finally climaxed together. Somewhere between that heavenly orgasm and making love on the floor, then on his throne, then down the hallway, then against a wall, then his bed chamber door, they seemed to have finally managed to tumble their way inside his bed chamber where they continued their limitless rounds of passionate love making.

For the next several hours, it was a ceaseless symphony of moans of pure passion, two beautifully sculpted bodies moving in harmony as they came together again and again and again. As they came to the last rout of their intense love making, this one had the biggest impact on the both of them. Gone was the carnal desire to just devour the other, now it was only emotion that floated between the two of them. One sentiment that radiated from both of their bodies while they shared a soft, unhurried tender kiss as their bodies continued to merge together slowly. The War God's tender thrusts had his beautiful Princess moaning out lowly her approval while he leisurely moved himself within her, making her cling to him just a little tighter every time he pushed back into her, gasping out at the pleasure that was overtaking her senses.

"Ares…" she whimpered out breathless, completely wrapped up by the feeling that was engulfing her. In that moment, it was no use concealing herself from him, she gave herself over willingly to the passion of their love.

It was really quite intense for the Warrior Princess, never had she felt something so powerful before and the strength of it had actually scared her a little. It was something that she had never expected to ever find for herself but yet she had found it in the most unlikely of places and with someone who she least expected to find it with. He was no prince charming, far from it, the last person that anyone would of thought of ever doing something unselfish for another but he was her dark knight and she trusted him with her life. And with that trust, a love began to grow and it was an amazingly powerful sensation that consumed her every time they were together, but at that moment it seemed even more powerful. The War God's gentle movements within her, filled her heart with warmth and as he plunged his godhood into her once more, a gasp of pure surprise mixed with extreme pleasure falling out of her mouth as she realized the depth of her love for him and a small tear had made its way down her cheek at the intensity of the feeling.

The War God, who had immediately perceived the slight difference in her mewings- one that he had never heard before- vaguely wondered if he had been accidently hurting his sweet Princess. She didn't seem to be objecting though, she had actually tightened herself around him more when it seemed that he was going to stop and she surged him on, moaning out sexily when he sunk his full length into her again and that eased his troubled thoughts for the moment and he continued with his gentle movements within her. A few seconds later though, when she had nuzzled her head against the crook of his neck, Ares felt the moisture against his skin and heard that small, marginally altered whimper again. He pulled back from Xena a little, enough to be able to look at her, and that's when he saw it.

Concern soon filled him at the sight of her, frightened that he might have actually hurt her and he immediately stopped his thrusts at seeing the tears staining her face but when she opened her eyes to meet his worried ones, he saw the unmistakable love shining in them. It was equal in both of their eyes and they communicated in the way that they did best, they couldn't hide anything from each other when their gazes would meet and each one could read clearly what the other was silently trying to say. The War God gently reached up and softly wiped the tears from his Princess' cheeks and then leaned forward and placed an affectionate kiss on the tip of her nose. He delicately started to kiss away her tears as well before ending with a sweet kiss against her lips and nuzzling his head against hers for a moment, he took the time to breathe in her addictive, sweet aroma that he loved incredibly.

When he pulled back, Xena leaned up and captured his lips with her own, softly moving her mouth against his while their kisses said everything that they wanted to say to each other. The War God soon started to move within her again, slow languid thrusts that gradually began to become more intense as their feelings for one another poured over them. It was a turning point in their relationship as each moan bound them closer to the other and a silent promise was made through each rejoining of their bodies before they had finally reached that pivotal moment and collapsed together.

They lazily laid wrapped around the other for the next couple of hours, Xena softly nestling her head against his chest while the War God leisurely ran his fingertips against her silky skin. As the Warrior Princess got even more comfortable in his arms, seeming to drift off into her slumber, Ares knew that she was everything that he had ever wanted. She was a Goddess in his eyes and most importantly, she was his Goddess and he would protect her for as long as his immortal life would allow him to. He would sooner die in her arms than to live without her in his. Feeling her gentle breath hit against his chest, Ares leaned forward and placed an adoring kiss on the top of her head.

"I love you, Xena." he whispered out to her sleeping form and then pulled her more snuggly against himself, never wanting to let her go.

A few seconds had dwindled by, the War God lightly running his hand up and down his Princess' slumbering form, seemingly lost to his stunning confession. He was enjoying this peaceful moment with his Princess, tucked away safely in his embrace, there was nowhere else that he would rather be then holding the most precious thing in the world to him tenderly in his arms. When a few seconds later, all of a sudden, a small soft voice echoed back his sentiment, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

"I love you, too." Xena softly murmured out and then turned her head slightly and placed a sweet kiss against his heart before she burrowed herself closer to him, wrapping herself around him even more as she draped her leg and arm over him, and, adamant about making their serene moment last forever, she tightened her grip around his waist.

Ares was a bit in shock, she had heard him and she had reciprocated. He could feel her smiling lightly against him while his mind whirled with what that really meant. The War God soon tightened his hold around his Princess as well and placed another kiss against her head. Xena lifted her head to look at him and their eyes held each other's for a moment, each seeing the love that was present for the other in them, before they both leaned in and captured each other's mouths in a tender kiss. It lasted for a few delicious moments and when it started to grow more passionate they pulled away from each other, and smiled happily before they rested their foreheads against the other.

That's how it was supposed to be…They belonged to each other and they would protect one another because that is what they did. It didn't come easy, if at all, and it certainly didn't come often for either of them and now that they had it they wouldn't so simply just let it go, they would protect…what they loved…each other…


End file.
